Arthur's Kissing Conundrum
by mydesiredusername
Summary: After Buster tells Arthur that he has had his first kiss with a girl, Arthur sets out to do the same! But what will happen when Arthur realizes that the person he most wants to kiss is Buster himself?


AN: I've been re-watching Arthur lately, and I got this idea for a fic, so I decided to give it a go! Please enjoy and review! (Warning: this story contains Arthur x Buster as a romantic pairing. That being said, it's not a yaoi or anything like that. I'm going to try to keep it as in-character as possible.)

CHAPTER ONE: FIRSTS

"Arthur, can I ask you something?"

"Huh?" Arthur looked up from his Bionic Bunny comic to see that Buster had already closed his. The bunny's usually pale cheeks were tinged red, and his eyes were on the floor of the treehouse. "Yeah, of course, Buster. What is it?"

"Well," Buster began, now twiddling his thumbs. "I guess I was just wondering if…well, have you had your first kiss yet?"

Arthur blinked and sat upright. "What? No way! That's gross!" Quickly, he imagined kissing Francine, and just as quickly, he shook the image out of his head, scrunching up his face. "I can't even think about it!"

"Oh. Um, okay," Buster said. "Forget I asked then." With that, he opened his comic back up and began reading, but Arthur certainly couldn't do the same.

"Wait, Buster, why did you ask me that?" Arthur said. "You haven't had _your_ first kiss…have you?"

Buster glanced up. "Actually, I kinda have."

Arthur's whole body tensed. "What? When? With who?"

"Um, last night," he said, scratching the back of his head. "With Muffy."

"What?!"

"Well, I went over to Muffy's to help fix her bike," he said. "But I guess I didn't really fix it right, because when we went riding around the block together afterward, the brakes stopped working at a certain point, and she kinda crashed into a fence."

"Oh…was she okay?"

"Yeah, she was fine, but she needed to go to the hospital. I mean, she probably didn't really _need_ to go to the hospital, but her dad was really worried and took her, just in case. She really only had a scraped knee though."

Arthur's patience began wearing thin, but he didn't want to let it show. "Okay, that's good, but I still don't see how that led to you doing something so gross as kissing her!"

"I'm getting there!" Buster assured. "When she was in the hospital, she was panicking pretty badly. Even though it really was just a scraped knee, she thought she was going to die. I guess she can be a little dramatic sometimes."

"No kidding."

"Heh. So yeah, she was getting really worked up, and she started going on about all the things that she never got to do before she died. Like visit Paris. Or be on a talk show. Or even have her first kiss," Buster said. "And well, you should have seen her, Arthur! She started crying! And I kept telling her that it was only a scraped knee and that she would be fine, but she wouldn't believe me, so…I don't know, I just kinda leaned over and kissed her." Arthur blinked, speechless, so Buster continued: "I figured, I couldn't take her to Paris or get her on a talk show, but at least I could do that. I don't know. I thought maybe it would calm her down or cheer her up."

Regaining at least a little of his power of speech, Arthur said, "And did it?"

"I'm not completely sure. She just went totally quiet after that. And I got really embarrassed so I ran out of the room and went home. I haven't seen or heard from her today, so I don't know what she thought."

Taking this all in, Arthur hugged his knees close to his chest. "Wow. I, uh…wow."

"Yeah."

"Did you like it? I mean, wasn't it totally gross?"

Buster shrugged. "It wasn't as gross as I was expecting it to be. It was kinda fun, actually."

"Do you _like_ her or something?!" Arthur said, his voice squeaking more than he wanted it to.

"I don't know," Buster said. "I didn't think so before last night. But I did like kissing her, and if she liked it too, I would do it again. So maybe that does mean I like her?"

His stomach twisting into a thousand knots, Arthur had no idea how to react to this news, but knowing that he had to respond in some way, he chose at random one of the many mixed emotions he was feeling: anger. "I can't believe that you would do this, Buster! You're not supposed to be kissing girls and liking girls!" he said, eyebrows slanted.

Buster's eyes widened in surprise. "W-why not?"

"Because! We're too young for that stuff! You're going to ruin everything," he said.

"What are you talking about, Arthur? Ruin what?!"

Arthur wasn't exactly sure himself, so he bit his tongue. "Look, I gotta go home for dinner now. I'll talk to you later."

With that, Arthur grabbed his comic and hurried down the treehouse ladder, running off to his home as his head continued to spin.

At dinner that night, Arthur couldn't eat. Even though his dad had made one of his favorite dinners—pot roast with cream cheese mashed potatoes and honey-glazed carrots—he found that his appetite was entirely gone. He also didn't speak a word at dinner, instead letting D.W. prattle on endlessly about her day at preschool and how the Tibbles had learned how to count to "bajillion" and how she wanted to learn how to do it too.

This behavior didn't go unnoticed by his father, David, who excused him early to his room but followed him up there shortly after. "Arthur, is everything all right?" he asked as he stood in the doorway.

Arthur was laying face down on his bed and sniffed audibly. "Y-yeah, everything's fine."

David closed the door and sat on the edge of Arthur's bed. "Arthur, you don't have to talk about it with me if you don't want to. I can just sit here for a while, if that would help."

Arthur hesitated, but then turned over to face his father. "It's just that…Buster kissed Muffy last night."

"Buster and Muffy?" David asked, eyebrows raised. "I gotta be honest: I didn't really see that one coming."

"Neither did I," Arthur sighed. "I don't get it, Dad. He said he liked it!"

"Well, Arthur, boys usually _do_ like kissing girls, at least eventually, when they grow up."

"But he's not grown up! We're only in third grade!"

David nodded and patted Arthur's shoulder. "I know, son. But some kids grow up faster than other kids. It's different for everyone."

Arthur looked down. "How old were _you_ when you started being interested in all that…gross stuff?"

David thought back. "Well, let's see…I think I was nine when I got my first real crush." He then smiled nostalgically. "Rebecca. She was a great girl."

"Did you kiss her?"

A small blush crossed David's face. "Yeah, at the school dance."

Hearing this, Arthur felt more depressed than ever. "So is this how it's gonna be then? First it's Buster and Muffy, then everyone else is gonna start kissing and holding hands and wanting to do dumb stuff like going to movies alone and giving each other chocolate?"

David chuckled lightly. "Eventually, yes, Arthur. That's just how things go. But I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. You're right when you say that you're still all very young. I think you've still got a few years before things get really complicated."

"But what if Buster ends up liking Muffy more than me?"

"That wouldn't happen. You're Buster's best friend," David said. "And even if he did like Muffy more than you, it would be a different _kind_ of like."

Arthur hesitated before turning over on his side. "I just don't get why he would kiss her. Or why he would like it. It's so stupid."

"I know it seems that way right now, but before you know it, you'll find a girl that you want to kiss too," David said with a smile. "So you should try and be supportive of Buster and Muffy. Then, when it happens to you, you can tell Buster all about it and he'll be supportive right back."

"I guess," Arthur mumbled, and David kissed the top of his head.

"Get some rest, Arthur," he suggested, getting up to leave the room. "It'll all be okay. I promise."

Arthur wasn't sure that he believed him. About everything being okay, or about him soon finding a girl that he wanted to kiss. But then it occurred to him that maybe he just didn't understand it because he hadn't actually experienced it yet. Buster hadn't set out wanting to kiss Muffy, but he still enjoyed it. So instead of waiting to _want_ to kiss a girl, Arthur suddenly decided that he would just go ahead and kiss one, and hope that he liked it afterward. Maybe that way, he and Buster would be on the same page again.

This plan brought him some relief as he closed his eyes. He decided that tomorrow, he would have his first kiss no matter what. The question was: with whom?

TO BE CONTINUED

Please review! Whom do you think Arthur will kiss? Or _should_ kiss?


End file.
